Wednesday, 17 September 2014

From Script To Screen: A Night To Remember

Earlier
this week I headed to The Lowry to attend Coming
Out - From Script To Screen,
a discussion on homosexuality in Coronation Street taking place as
part of Manchester Pride Fringe. I managed to bag a front row seat,
and sat with palpitations knowing that within minutes I would be just
feet away from the big man himself, Tony Warren.

Damon
Rochefort introduced the event with a montage highlighting Corrie’s
best moments throughout the years. It was met with lots of laughter
and the fans in the audience were completing the actors’ lines as
though they were at a Sound Of Music sing-along. Following the
montage, Jonathan Harvey, Debbie Oates, Brooke Vincent, Anthony
Cotton and Tony Warren entered the stage to rousing applause and took
their seats.

As
the discussion began, it was like crack for the superfans in the
audience. The chemistry between the writers was infectious, the
anecdotes from the actors were insightful and exciting, and Tony
Warren commanded the entire room every time he spoke as though he
were The Pope.

The
Writers

Debbie
Oates was a delight to listen to. She was incredibly witty, full of
expression and seemed genuinely passionate about the LGBT cause –
even claiming to be referred to as ‘Head Of Lesbian’ at
Coronation Street. She discussed the unease felt by some of the
writers when gay characters were initially introduced, with some
claiming ‘not to know how gays think’ to which she responded,
“You don’t know how women think either, but you still write for
them!”

Damon Rochefort and Jonathan Harvey also provided great insight on their
personal feelings towards Coronation Street’s portrayal of
homosexuality, with Harvey making the very honest admission that he
had previously felt excluded by the soap due to lack of
representation. Rochefort and Harvey’s inappropriate jokes had me
laughing out loud on several occasions, and the evening seemed to be
constructed similarly to Coronation Street itself: the serious made
digestible with regular doses of humour.

From
a fan’s point of view, it was great to see some of the writers in
the flesh, particularly names that I pray for at the beginning of an
episode. Between the stories about the lines they can’t believe
they got away with (Blanche’s “nasty gash”, anyone?) and their
personal reflections on some of the more hard hitting scenes, it felt
almost like a night at the Rovers with a group of old mates.

The
Cast

Brooke
Vincent, who joked about being the ‘nation’s favourite lesbian’,
spoke of her fear at being given such a big challenge at the age of
16, her initial reaction being, “Why me?” I got a real sense of
personal journey when she spoke, and it seemed as though playing the
character of Sophie from such a young age had helped Brooke to
develop her own sense of self.

When
discussing her character, it was noted that she had been in the soap
since birth and that the audience had watched her grow and develop as
a person. This raised the interesting point that Sophie had not been
brought into Coronation Street especially to be gay, and that the
audience had had a chance to explore sexuality through the eyes of
somebody they had witnessed growing up.

The
biggest revelation of the evening for me was Anthony Cotton. Anthony
discussed the abuse he regularly receives from members of the gay
community who claim he has “set the gay cause back 25 years”.
I’m ashamed to admit, this was an opinion I had shared until
recently. As somebody who has always been flamboyant, I am no
stranger to internalised homophobia. However, it wasn’t until
recently that I realised that my disdain towards flamboyancy in the
media was actually a projection of my own self-hate.

Anthony
touched upon this when I questioned him on the issue of homophobia
within the gay community. His answer was eloquent and heartrending,
yet at the same time encouraging, particularly for somebody like
myself. He mentioned that he had never featured on the front cover
of a gay glossy, which instead tend to favour “naked straight men
with boxing gloves in front of their willies”. These in turn become
the role models for younger gay men, meaning the character of Sean
becomes less aspirational. Couple this with people’s inability to
distinguish between fiction and real life, and it becomes pretty
clear to see that Anthony has suffered. Nevertheless, Anthony spoke
of his achievements and the importance of representing every part of
the spectrum, and it turned out to be one of the most poignant
moments of the evening.

Tony
Warren

From
the moment Tony Warren entered the stage a sense of admiration and
respect could be felt across the entire room. You could hear a pin
drop when he spoke, and the same Tony Warren who refused to come down
from the filing cabinet at Granada was clearly still present, albeit
older and wiser.

Tony
discussed a story conference in the early days at which he stood up
to speak against anti-gay language being used by saying, “Without a
poof, none of you would be in work this morning!” When his
colleagues responded by saying it wasn’t directed at him, he simply
said, “Call my brothers, and you call me.” It was a stark
reminder of how difficult it must have been for somebody like Warren
in those days, and brought the earlier discussion about internalised
homophobia back into the forefront of my mind. How have we gotten to
the point where we are attacking each other when people such as Tony
faced daily battles simply to exist in society?

In
response to a fan question about Coronation Street’s perceived
‘lateness’ when it came to representing the gay community, Tony
mentioned that there were underlying fears that advertisers may have
pulled out had Coronation Street introduced a gay character any
sooner. Never one to leave the tone too serious, he then joked that
we had come a long way since then as the current sponsorship seems to
feature two gay meerkats raising a baby together. The audience was
left in stitches.

Given
that Coronation Street has pretty much dominated my entire life, this
event was a dream come true; after all, it gave me the chance to
publicly fangirl over my favourite writers, members of the cast and
Tony himself. But the event also raised several important issues on
the historical struggles faced by the LGBT community, as well as the
rather different struggles faced by people such as Anthony today.

Thanks
to Damon Rochefort for putting together such a wonderful event, and
thanks to Tony Warren for making my dreams come true by posing for a
photograph with me at the end. It was most definitely an evening I
will never forget.

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CBC Schedule for Corrie

CBC Christmas Schedule:

No Coronation Street on Dec. 25.TWO hours of Corrie on Dec. 26 from 7 p.m.One episode of Corrie per usual Dec. 27 - 29. NO Coronation Street on January 1DOUBLE Corrie from Jan. 2 - 5 with a four hour omnibus on Sunday, January 7.

**********************Corrie normally airs on CBC weeknights at 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Mondays and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to Friday (7:30 and 8:00 p.m. respectively, in Newfoundland) and the six episodes are repeated on Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. (8:30 p.m. Newfoundland) but check your local listings for the Sunday "omnibus".

Catchup Calendar for Canadian Corrie fans!

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